Pattern day trading

Someone told me, regarding the pattern day trading rule: "You can day trade on 3 out of 5 days, what or how much is up to you". IB only lets you do 3 day trades in 5 days. So is this still within regulations? I would just be able to day trade 3 days a week then until I have $25k...

You get three "daytrades" within any 5 consecutive trading days. "Daytrade" means selling a stock or option the same day you bought it, or covering the same day you sell a stock short.

You have to wait until the next day before you close a position, otherwise it counts as one of your 3 daytrades. If you hold overnight you are ok.

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OK, but why dus realfasttrader.com allow ANY number of daytrades but just for 3 consecutive days? Does that mean they (realfasttrader) monitor this, and not some kind of organization (NASD or what are they called)? I don't understand why there's such a difference between IB and realfasttrade...

The Pattern Daytrading rule was created by the NASD (National Association of Securities Dealers). Securities are stocks and stock options. NASD sets the rules for trading stocks and stock options.

FfastTrade (www.ffasttrade.com) is a Futures broker. Futures are not securities. Futures are commodities. A different regulatory agency called the CFTC sets the rules for trading commodities. There isn't a daytrading rule for futures.

You can trade both securities and commodities with IB. IB applies the pattern daytrading restrictions to stocks and stock options, but not to futures.

I asked the livechathelp at realfasttrader.com, and the rules are the same there as IB. Here is the text of the chat:

You are now chatting with 'Customer Service'
Customer Service: Welcome to our live chat service.
Customer Service: How may I help you today?
you: Hi. Can you tell me what the pattern daytrading restriction means? Thanks
Customer Service: Here is a new page that will help you...
Customer Service: http://www.speedtrader.com/nasd_rule_2520.html
Customer Service: Basically if you have under $25k in your account you can only day trade 3 out of any 5 business days
you: How many trades can I make?
Customer Service: 3 day trades in any 5 day period
Customer Service: http://www.speedtrader.com/nasd_rule_2520.html
you: Thank you!
Customer Service: Read this link
Customer Service: Thank you for chatting. Good-bye.
you: bye
Chat session has been terminated by the site operator.